Baseboard heater and the like



June 13, 1961 c. M. BUTTNER BAsEBoAED HEATER AND THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 5, 1958 INVENTOR. 214% /Warr/VER,

ATTCRNEYS.

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June 13, 1961 C. M. BUTTNER 2,988,626

BASEBOARD HEATER AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. 5, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. (kfz /fc/rrA/ER,

ATTORNEYS.

Y 2,988,626, .Y BASEBOARD HEATER AND THE LIKE CarlM. Bnttner, Memphis, Tenn.,- assignor to Robbins & Myers, Inc., Springfield, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio i Filed Dec. 5, 1958, Ser. No. 778,480

'z Claims. ((1219-39) lThis invention relates to an-electric heater for installation at or above oor level and is particularly advantageous in use as a baseboard heater, i.e. a heater which is mounted on the surface of -the wall at the baseboard or recessed into the Wall.

In providing a heater for installation at or above the floor level or along the baseboards, space considerations become of great importance. If the heater is to be recessed into the wall it should be of such depth that it can be substantially wholly recessed. If it is to be mounted on the surface of the wall it must be of minimum depth so as not to project into the room. It is desirable also that the heater be of relatively short length so as not to obstruct wall space which could be used for furniture.

With the foregoing considerations in mind, it is an object of my invention to provide a heater which may be made of such dimensions that it can be recessed in a wall so as not to project into the room or which when mounted on the surface of the wall projects into the room a minimum distance. It is another object of the invention to provide a heater as outlined above which will be efficient in operation and which can be of relatively high B.t.u. rating without an increase in its overall dimensions and which will be safe in its installation in a Wall.

Further objects include the provision of a heater as described above which will be thermostatically actuated to maintain an even temperature and avoid over-running and which will be provided with safety features which make it desirable for domestic installation.

These and other objects of the invention which will be described in more detail hereinafter or which will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications I accomplish by thatcertain construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment.

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof and in which:

FIGURE I is a front elevational view with parts broken away of a heater according to the present invention.

FIGURE v2. is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the :same taken on the line 2 2 of FIGURE l.

FIGURE 3 iS a vertical cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on the line 3 3 of FIGURE l.

FIGURE 4 is ,a vertical cross-sectional View on an enlarged scale taken on the line 4 4 of FIGURE l.

` FIGURE 5 is a perspective View of the complete heater .on a greatly reduced scale.

' Briefly, in the practice of my invention I provide an installation box preferably of sheet metal, which is adapted .to be recessed into a wall and I provide a cover for the installation box, which cover is provided with necessary louvers and actuating members for the control devices. Within the installation box I mount the heater assembly proper which is provided with means to insulate it from .the installation box insofar as heat and vibration are concerned. At one end of the heater assembly proper `there is provided a blower compartment within which there is mounted a motor blower unit which is vibration insulated from the assembly. At its lower portion the blower compartment communicates with an air chamber 'extending along the bottom of the assembly over submice stantially the entire remaining length thereof. Above the air chamber is a heat exchange space in which electric heating elements are mounted so that the air moved by the blower into the air chamber passes upwardly over the heating elements and after being heated thereby is discharged forwardly into the room through suitable louvers in the installation box cover.

Referring now in more detail to the drawings, the installation box is indicated at 10 and may be made from sheet metal in any desired manner. The box 10 may be provided with the flanges 11 at the top `and 12 at the bottom and 13 at the ends. The cover plate is indicated generally at 14 and it is preferably anged at the top as at 15 and the bottom as at 16 and the ends yas at 17. As will be clear from FIGURE 2, in assembly the flanges 17 engage the anges 13 and as can be seen from FIGURES 3 and 4 the ange 16 abuts the flange 12 while the flange 15 at the top hooks into the hookshaped flange I1. The cover plate 14 may be held in place by means of screws las indicated at 18.

The cover plate is provided with a set of louvers at 19 to permit entry of air into the blower compartment and the louvers 2G for egress of heated air from the heat exchange space. Preferably an opening 21 is provided adjacent the louvers 19 and within the opening 21 a thermostat element 22 is mounted so that air drawn into the blower chamber passes over the element 22 which senses the temperature of the incoming air. The setting of the thermostat may be adjusted by means of a knob 23 mounted on the cover plate 14.

The heater assembly proper which is mounted in the installation box It) comprises a casing 24. The casing 24 is mounted on the flanges 13 as best seen in FIGURE 2 by means of screws or bolts 25 provided with rubber grommets 26 for vibration insulation. The assembly 24 rests on the bottom ofthe installation box on rubber feet 27. From inspection of FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, it will be clear that an air space is provided on all sides of and behind the heater assembly proper and with the installation box 10. This air space limits heat transfer from the heater assembly proper to the installation box to a bare minimum. With this arrangement, the B.t.u. rating of the heater can be increased considerably without increasing over-all dimensions. In some cases it may be found desirable to provide air bleeder holes as indicated in dotted lines in FIGURE 3 at 28.

At the left-hand end of the assembly, as seen in FIG- URES l, 2 and 5, there is provided a blower compartment. Within this compartment a motor 29 is mounted and disposed to drive a blower 30. The motor 29 is mounted by means of brackets 31 and is vibration insulated from the assembly by the rubber grommets 32. It will be observed that for economy in space, the motor is partly displaced inside the blower wheel 39. The blower is of the centrifugal type and the left-hand end of the heater assembly is formed `arcuately to provide the scroll or volute chamber 33. The blower rotates in a counterclockwise direction in FIGURE 1 so that the air sucked in through the louvers 19 is caused to move toward the right at the bottom of FIGURE l into the air chamber 34.

The air owing toward the right at the bottom ofthe assembly into the air chamber 34 must now be directed upwardly over the .heater coils and also it must be distributed uniformly over the length of the coils. To this end, I have provided a plurality of baffles of graduated length. At the left of FIGURE 1 nearest the blower compartment there is a vertical baffle 35. Next there is a bathe 36 and other bafles 37, 38 and 39. It will be noted that the bae 3'5 deflects 4upwardly a small increment of the air stream as indicated by the arrows, while the -batile 36 picks up an additional increment. Additionally, the baes 37, 38, 39 pick up and deflect addi- Patented June 13, 1961` j tional increments of the air stream upwardly. The balance of the air stream is deflected upwardly by the bulkhead or the end of the heater assembly proper. In this way, the air stream which is of relatively small cross section as it comes' from the blower compartment is distributed over the entire length of the heating elements as it is dellected upwardly. The front of the air chamber is closed by the plate 40.

Above the air chamber are mounted a plurality of ceramic supports for the heating elements as indicated at 41. 'Ihese are best seen in elevation in FIGURE 3. Floating support rods 42 allow for noiseless expansion and contraction of the ceramic heating element supports 41 and their associated elements by means of compression springs `58 assembled at each end over the support rods 4,2. The springs `58 also serve as shock absorbers to prevent damage of the heating element assembly during shipping. The heating element supports 41, as best seen in FIGURE 3, are provided with the holes 43 which are arranged in pairs so that the heating elements may be threaded alternately through these holes in a zig zag coniiguration as seen at 44 in FIGURE l. This prevents the heating elements 44 from vibrating or singing.

As best seen in FIGURE 3, a number of baffles disposed vertically and parallel to the heating elements are provided as at 45, 46 and 47. The upper ends of these baffles are curved forwardly as at 48, 49 and 5t). These bailes insure that the heated air, after passing over the heating elements 44, is uniformly distributed to be ejected through the louvers 20.

An over-heat limit switch is indicated somewhat diagrammatically at 51 and a control thermostat is indicated at 52. The thermostat 52 is actuated by the knob 23. An automatic disconnect switch is shown at 54 so that when the cover plate 14 is removed from the installation box, the switch 54 automatically opens, disconnecting the entire unit from the line. When the cover plate 14 is reinstalled, the spring 55 recloses the switch 54. It will be understood that the heating elements are connected in series with the over-heat limit switch v51, the control thermostat 52 and the disconnecting switch 54. The line terminals are indicated at 56 and the heating element terminals are indicated at 57.

By means of the knob 23, the thermostat '52 may be set for a desired temperature, preferably between 50 F. and 90 F. As the blower 30 operates, air is drawn through the opening 21 over the thermostat bulb 22 so that quick response is insured and over-run of the unit is limited.

The over-heat limit switch 51 is of any well known heat operated type which opens in the event of over-heat which might result from failure of the blower motor 29 or restrictions accidentally placed in front of the heater louvers 19 or 20. The switch 51 is preferably the type which will automatically reconnect when the temperature has been reduced by correction of the fault which caused it to operate.

It will be understood that details of construction of this heater may be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention. While I do not intend to be limited to dimensions, I may point out that a satisfactory baseboard heater according to the present invention has been produced which has a length of about thirty-three inches, a height of about thirteen inches and a depth of about four inches. With these dimensions, I have been able to produce a heater having a B.t.u. rating of 8,500 at a low noise level and low and safe temperatures.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An electric heater adapted to be installed at the base of a wall of -a room,V comprising a horizontally elongated installation box, said installation box being relatively thin and narrow for convenient and unobtrusive mounting; Ya heater assembly supported in saidbox with vibration insulation means between said assembly and box and with an air space therebetween for heat insulation; said assembly comprising a volute blower compartment at one end, and a centrifugal blower and driving motor therefor mounted in said compartment with vibration insulation means, said motor being partly recessed within said blower; an opening at the bottom of said volute compartment in said heater assembly communicating with an air chamber extending over substantially the remaining length of the lower part of said assembly, said air chamber being open at the top; a series of vertical bales mounted in said horizontal air chamber, said baffles being of graduated vertical extent down into said air chamber with the shortest baffle being at that end of said chamber nearest said blower compartment and the longest being at the remote end therefrom, said battles serving to direct the horizontally moving air stream from said blower compartment upwardly through the open top of said air chamber in substantially equal increments over the entire length of said chamber; electric heating elements mounted in said assembly above said air chamber and extending substantiallyl the entire length thereof; vertical baffles associated with said heating elements parallel to the length thereof and of graduated height, the shortest being at the front of said assembly and the longest at the rear, said last named baflles being bent forwardly at their upper ends to direct the vertically moving air stream forwardly in increments over substantially the entire remaining height of said assembly; and a cover plate for said box, said cover plate having inlet louvers for said blower compartment and outlet louvers for the air deflected forwardly by said last mentioned battles.

2. The structure of claim l, wherein said electric heating elements are supported by transversely disposed ceramic heating element supports, said heating elements passing through oiset holes in said supports in zig zag configuration.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 978,704 Daningburg Dec. 13, 1910 1,526,843 Dominguez Feb. 17, 1925 1,752,830 Bliss Apr. 1, 1930 1,832,444 Berger Nov. 17, 1931 1,870,460 Lambert Aug. 9, 1932 1,979,222 Goodwin Oct. 3,0, 1934 2,153,576 Kurth et al. Apr. 1l, 1939 2,349,215 Wahlborg May 16, 1944 2,458,268 Hinds Jan. 4, 1949 2,470,646 Richardson May 17, 1949 2,503,764 Ott Apr. 11, 1950 2,513,945 Kitto et al. c July 4, 1950 2,528,650 Graham Nov. 7, 1950 2,578,819 Mast et al. Dec. 18, 1951 2,662,963 Wessel Dec. 15, 1953 2,808,237 Fosnes Oct. l, 1957 2,823,291 Fiandt Feb. 11, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 571,735 Great Britain Sept. 6, 1945 

